Bakersfield, CA, October 11 – A driver died Friday evening after a head-on collision between two vehicles on Wheeler Ridge Road in Bakersfield. The California Highway Patrol responded to the scene, where a gray SUV and another vehicle came to rest in opposite lanes of travel. The victim’s identity has not been released. The crash remains under investigation.
Bakersfield Head-On Crash on Wheeler Ridge Road Leaves One Dead
The collision occurred Friday evening in the 3700 block of Wheeler Ridge Road near Creekside, according to the CHP. The crash was reported at approximately 6:43 p.m., when a gray SUV and another vehicle collided head-on. Following the impact, the two vehicles came to rest in the northbound and southbound lanes of Wheeler Ridge Road.
Emergency crews responded to the scene, and at 7:25 p.m. a responding officer confirmed that one person inside a vehicle involved in the crash had died. The identity of the victim was not immediately released by authorities.
Two tow trucks were requested to remove the damaged vehicles from the roadway. Southbound traffic on Wheeler Ridge Road was blocked while emergency personnel worked at the scene.
The CHP has not released the circumstances that led to the collision, and the investigation remains ongoing. The cause of the crash, whether any citations or arrests have resulted, and further details about the vehicles and those involved have not been made public.
What the at-fault driver is required to carry, and why it often is not enough
Vehicle Code section 16056 sets California’s minimum liability limits, and they changed recently. For a policy issued or renewed on or after 1 January 2025, the minimum is $30,000 for injury to or death of one person, $60,000 where two or more people are hurt, and $15,000 for property damage. Policies written before that date may still carry the older minimum of $15,000, $30,000 and $5,000.
Those are floors, not typical limits, and a single hospital admission can exhaust the lower figure before any other loss is counted. Where the at-fault driver carries the minimum, the uninsured and underinsured motorist cover on the injured person’s own policy is often the part that matters most, and it is worth checking early rather than after the other insurer has made an offer.
The deadline that applies to a claim like this one
Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. The same two years covers an injury claim and a death claim; there is no separate, shorter period because someone died.
Who is entitled to bring a claim when someone is killed
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 decides who may bring a wrongful death action. The first group is the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children and the issue of deceased children, or, where there is no surviving issue, whoever would take the estate by intestate succession.
A second group may bring the action only if they were financially dependent on the person who died: a putative spouse and their children, stepchildren, parents, and the legal guardians of the person who died where the parents are deceased. Parents are in that second group, which is the part families are most often surprised by, because dependency has to be shown rather than assumed.
Talking to someone about it
Culver Legal represents people injured in collisions across California. A conversation about what happened costs nothing, and we work on a contingency fee, which means there is no fee unless we win. If we do not win, we do not pass the case costs on to you either.
Nothing on this page is legal advice about any particular case, and the facts of a reported collision often change as the investigation continues.
